Free Agent centre Derek Roy has signed with the St. Louis Blues. The club and Roy have come to terms on a 1 year deal worth $4 million.
Roy split last season between the Vancouver Canucks and Dallas Stars. The talented pivot scored 7 goals and 28 points in 42 games last season. Acquired at the trade deadline, the Canucks allowed Roy to walk as a free agent as he could not help the club in the Stanley Cup playoffs as they had hoped.
Roy, 30 years old, is a nine year NHL veteran, who spent his first 8 seasons with the Buffalo Sabres. The Ottawa, Ontario native has scored 168 goals, 287 assists, for 455 points in 591 career NHL games. His best season was in 2007-08 when Roy put up 81 points for the Sabres.
The St. Louis Blues were looking for a replacement for second line centre Andy MacDonald who choose to retire at the end of the season for health reasons related to previous concussions. Roy will do just that, and takes over as the Blues second line centre behind David Backes.
Yesterday the Blues signed another former Canuck, inking Maxim Lapierre to a two year deal to play on the club’s fourth line. Lapierre was given a two year deal worth $2.2 million ($1.1 million AAV).
The Blues finished 4th in the NHL’s Western Conference last season, but fell in the first round to the Los Angeles Kings in 6 games. It was the second straight year that the Blues lost to the Kings in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Thanks for reading, as always feel free to leave comments below and follow me on twitter @lastwordBKerr. Give the rest of the hockey department a follow while you’re at it – @BigMick99, @IswearGAA, and @LastWordOnNHL, and follow the site @lastwordonsport.
Interested in writing for LastWordOnSports? If so, check out our “Join Our Team” page to find out how.
